Cry Me A River
by Ana Graves
Summary: AU. When the Mystic Falls Gang's world is threatened, Caroline is the only one who can search for the solution. But when she finds it, nothing is the same anymore. She is send into the close future where nothing is right. Everything she knew is lost in the post-apocalypse reality. Will she find a way to save the world and herself? Klaroline, Stebekah, Kalijah.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Vampire Diaries, nor any of the characters.

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**_00. The Wind of Change_**

_See nothing. Hear nothing._  
_ Say nothing. Nothing at all._  
_ What you see and what you feel_  
_ Just an illusion._

There was pitch dark inside of a cave. Caroline was slowly walking alongside the stony corridor, trying to think nothing at all. She couldn't focus at thinking about nothing though. This place was just too creepy.

It could be described in three words.

First: silence. Her steps echoed in some strange way through the air, giving her the shivers. Those were the only sounds there. The steps and her breath, which created a thin mist every time she breathed. She had never experienced such a creepy silence before.

Second: moisture. The ground, the walls and everything else around was covered with thin layer of water. She couldn't help but think about mould and rot; she shivered with disgust every time she felt this dampness on her bare skin. It made the air in the cave freezing cold. She was a vampire – she shouldn't sense the changes in temperature the same way humans did. But that fact didn't stop her body from trembling because of the cold. She could only crave for the warmth and comfort of her own room.

The last but not least: fear. She wasn't weak and didn't get terrified easily; but this time it was something different. Fright was glued to the walls of the cave. It dribbled alongside with the water. It hung in the air with steam. It burst into her mind, poisoning her every thought. Making her scared to death.

Everything was getting darker and darker with every passing second. She didn't see anything further than one meter from her; the silence was squealing in her ears; the moisture made her sick. Slowly she forgot about her target, giving up the fight with feelings that wanted to overwhelm her. Those were despair, loneliness, hopelessness and much more she couldn't even name. For the first time in her life she was really frightened.

Her only desire was to get out from there, as soon as possible. Fear was hugging her in the embrace so tight she almost couldn't breathe. Her mind was obscured with images so dark that they almost made her blood stiffen. Water started to drop on the ground from the ceiling with a loud sound. Something under her foot crunched. She looked down. Bones. Bones and skulls were everywhere. She suddenly realised that this moisture that bothered her so much didn't consist of water. It was blood. The blood she didn't even feel.

Fear was the only word that stayed in her mind. Few more seconds and she would run away, begging on her knees for mercy and maybe even quick death. She would definitely do that, but suddenly everything stopped. The corridor ended.

She was standing in the round stony glade, suddenly able to breathe and think. Think. That was the most important. Every thought came back rushing to her. She looked around, terrified that she could have passed her target.

But, as she suddenly saw her 'target' standing in front of her, she realised she didn't miss it.

'You're here.'

The voice was harsh and cold, but definitely belonged to a woman. Caroline couldn't see the face of her interlocutor, because it was hidden in a dark. It didn't bother her though; with the end of the corridor she lost the fear and regained her strength.

'I'm here,' she confirmed firmly, calming her breath. 'And you know why I'm here.'

The woman laughed, but it was as far from the cheerful, careless laughter as it only could be.

'I know, but do you know?'

Caroline blinked, but she didn't let the Witch-Or-Not-Really-A-Witch took control over her.

'I'm here for the solution,' she stated, trying to ignore the strange sounds that were reaching her ears.

'You already have it.'

She frowned. They definitely didn't have a solution; if they did, she wouldn't be in that God forsaken place.

'No, actually we don't,' she said, hiding her irritation. The smell that reached her nose was even harder to ignore. It was the smell of death. 'I came here to get one.'

She had an impression that the witch smirked.

'What is so funny?' she growled, couldn't keep her annoyance unleashed.

The witch started laughing. Caroline felt that this situation couldn't be more ghostly.

'You don't know why are you here,' the woman said, coming closer to Caroline. The vampire didn't step back. She tried to be the strongest she could. 'And I won't reveal that secret.'

The witch left the darkness and emerged in the narrow zone of lightness. The light seemed to come from nowhere. After seeing the glimpse of woman's face Caroline couldn't stop her feet from taking a step backward.

The witch eyes were dark, without even a trace of colorful irises. Her cheekbones were sticking out from the cheeks that didn't seem to have any flesh. Her skin was heavily destroyed and thin like a parchment. She almost didn't have hair; some rare strands were hanging from her head in a messy and dirty tangled mass. But that wasn't bad at all; such a view wouldn't make Caroline's heart react. The worst thing was that the witch resembled someone. The resemblance was hard to catch, but couldn't be denied.

She resembled Caroline.

The vampire's heart would stop if it was still beating.

'What...,' she started, but wasn't able to finish.

'But I can tell you one thing,' the witch whispered, coming even closer. Caroline was too startled to shiver when the woman leant to her ear. 'You are the solution.'

Caroline frowned.

'And that's all?', she asked, irritated to an endless degree. 'You want to tell me that I get here only to hear such a bullshit?'

The witch was calm; cold smile formed on her lips.

'Screw it. Screw you.'

Caroline was furious. She knew the witch wouldn't tell her anything else. She was so mad her mission went on vein that she couldn't think clearly. She couldn't think at all. She turned on her heels and run through the corridor four times quicker than she had done it before.

She stopped few meters from the exit. There was some border she couldn't see that make her unable to leave. She looked around: behind here was only darkness.

Suddenly she felt the wind - coming from the blackness - spinning around her. It was gaining speed so in the next minute she could barely stay standing. Her eyes were filled with dust so she saw nothing. Her throat went extremely dry; breathing became too difficult. When she thought she would stay there forever or choke to death with her own strangely sticky spit, everything stopped. Suspiciously, she tried to make a step. She managed to do it.

She felt relieved and quickly left the cave.

But she didn't like what she saw. She didn't like it at all.

She stopped walking the moment she left the cave. That wasn't the world she left while entering that strange kingdom of darkness and dampness. That wasn't her world at all.

She didn't know how true those words were.

That wasn't her world.

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**A/N: **Okay. Strangely, I usually first write something and then create the story behind it. So sometimes I end up having a prologue or even a prologue and first chapter, and not a story in my head. The same goes with _Cry Me A River_. I can't say if I'll deifnitely continue it (but if you liked it and want to see next parts, I would have a bigger motivation to write it), but I'll try, at the end of May at the earliest.

If this story comes to real life, it will be dark, gloomy and mysterious (at least I hope so). But it won't be as mysterious as the prologue itself, though.

Reviews are better than diamonds, so please, review!


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